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Seven party leaders engage in parleys to find consensus

Leaders of the seven parties continued their discussions on Wednesday as well in a last-ditch attempt to reach consensus on the Maoist proposal for announcement of republic from the interim parliament and adoption of proportional representation-based election system.

An informal meeting of the Nepali Congress' central committee was held at prime minister's residence Baluwatar in the morning to discuss the current deadlock. The party has already decided to vote against the proposals filed by the UML and the Maoists.

Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala directed the party leaders to make no change in the party decision. He urged them to end the political deadlock either through dialogue or voting in the parliament.

He added that despite their unchanged stance they should continue making efforts for consensus.

Likewise, leaders of the UML and the CPN-Maoist held separate informal meetings with Speaker Subash Nemwang to discuss the row. UML leaders also met with leaders of Nepali Congress and Maoist to press them to rethink their respective stands.

However, nothing came out of these meetings.

The special session of the parliament continued the debate on Maoist proposal on republic and proportional representation election system today.

The Maoists will vote in favour of their proposal while the UML has hinted that it will stick with its amendment proposal. The NC has said it will vote against both proposals.

Following the debate, the House will move on to the next phase, which could see a voting take place to decide the matter.

However, as UML MP Raghuji Panta said, even the voting will not be able to break the political deadlock since "parties will vote in favour of their respective proposals." nepalnews.com ia/sd Oct 31 07